Gadgetory

we've entered the era of laser warfare I'm Bridget Carey and this is your cnet update the US Navy announced plans to put the first laser weapon on a ship the laser can set a drone on fire and send it crashing into the ocean as seen in this YouTube video from the Navy the first prototype is expected to be put on a ship by the end of the year what's interesting about this weapon is that each time it shoots it only costs about a dollar and energy to power it but lasers might not work well in bad weather like rain or fog next up for the Navy getting sharks with laser beams attached to their foreheads the full review of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is now on cnet and this is the tablet that's going against the ipad mini our editor said it was a stunning tablet and Samsung's best yet but the fact that it's four hundred dollars is a hard sell it's seventy dollars more expensive than the ipad mini and it's not as thin or light but it does come with a stylus pen so artists and those who like to jot notes down might say it's worth the price selling it for more than Apple shows Samsung's confidence these days in its products and customer base it goes on sale thursday april eleventh in the last update i reported on rumors that google was in talks to buy the messaging app called whatsapp well perhaps it's not true an executive at whatsapp told AllThingsD II that there are no talks with Google but there have been previous reports of the app talking to Facebook about an acquisition so it's not the first time we've heard this popular chat app might be for sale if you've been inside of starbucks you know about those free itunes app songs and ebooks that you can get on a car near the register well they're called pic of the week and now there's no card required to redeem the free downloads starbucks visitors can access the freebies from the starbucks app when connected to the in-store Wi-Fi network starbucks is launching this new feature by offering the angry birds star wars game for free here's some cool science Japanese scientists say they have a way of telling what you're dreaming about just by looking at brain patterns during sleep so for example if you dream about a cat your brain will show the same pattern the next time you think about a cat what if you dream about being in a dream ception android users will notice that the Google Play marketplace app has gotten a makeover the layout is cleaner and it's supposed to help you discover new things to download faster so you spend more money yay and as for other Android apps the Tumblr app got an upgrade it has a new design with options to save draft posts and customize tweets Apple users may see these updates in the months ahead that's your tech news update you can find more details on the show blog sina com / update and you can always stay updated on twitter from our studios in New York I'm Bridget Carey